Page 88 of Fall

He whispers, “Are you okay?”

“No.”

“Tell me what happened,” Taylor coaxes.

“I can’t.”

I can feel the tears pool in my eyes as memories of being touched by the man who smelled like stale cigarettes lingers on my skin. I still don’t know his real name.

My lungs squeeze painfully in my chest, and my breaths become choppy.

“It’s okay, Eves. It’s okay,” Taylor soothes, reaching out to touch my shoulder, but I flinch.

After a few minutes, I become aware of the rest of the room. They’re all shouting at each other, but I have no idea why. Taylor becomes aware at the same time and huffs out in frustration.

“Can you all just shut the fuck up?” Taylor snaps, and the whole room literally pauses in shock at Taylor’s words. “Let’s find outwhathappened before we start passing judgment and slurring out accusations. You’re fucking Knights, not children.”

Celeste grabs my hand, and I squeeze it back in acknowledgment. I look down at her, searching for what to do next.

“You have to tell them,” she says. “You have to tell them thewholestory, so they understand.”

“But what if they already knew?”

She smiles at my question and looks deeper into my eyes. “Honey, look at them. You guys may have a fucked-up history, but here and now, they care.”

I close my eyes and release a shaky breath in an effort to release the tension in my bones and balance out my adrenaline. I knew this day would come—some days I even wished for it—but right now… I feel sick.

“Evie, it’s time.”My sister’s voice whispers in my head.

I squeeze Celeste’s hand harder, grasping on to the vision of Ivy being here with all my might, and nod my head.

It’s time for the truth.

“Do you want me to stay?” Celeste asks.

“I need to do this alone,” I answer back.

She moves to grab Taylor’s arm. “Come on, Bryant. They need to talk.”

“Are you sure? We can stay,” he says to me.

His concern for me is written all over his face, and it warms my heart.

“I need you to go,” I whisper, and he nods.

“Call us when you’re done.”

“There better be a helluva good reason why you were pointing a gun at me,” Elijah says coldly as I watch Taylor and Celeste leave the room.

“Why were you running?” Micah questions in a whisper.

“Why the fuck do you have a gun in the first place?” Caleb asks.

I lower my head, ignoring all of their questions. Fear crawls up my spine as my demons dance around in my head.

How do I tell them? What if they knew?

I walk over to the large window in my sitting room and stare at the setting sun. I don’t know if I can do this, but I know that I need to—for my own sake.